Commercial and residential buildings or structures are commonly equipped with systems for regulating the temperature of the air within the building for purposes of e.g., comfort, protection of temperature sensitive contents, etc. Sometimes referred to as heating, ventilating, and air conditioning or HVAC systems, such systems typically include one or more components for changing the temperature of air (i.e. air treatment components as used herein) along with one or more components for causing movement of air (i.e. blowers as used herein). For example, a refrigerant based heat pump may be provided for heating or cooling air. Alternatively, or in addition thereto, electrically resistant heat strips and/or gas burners may be provided for heating air. One or more blowers or fans may be provided for causing the heated or cooled air to circulate within the building in an effort to treat all or some controlled portion of air in the building. Ducting and vents may be used to help distribute and return air from different rooms or zones within the building.
During heating and/or cooling of air, HVAC systems consume energy. In particular, HVAC systems' energy consumption can account for more than fifty percent of a building's total energy consumption. Despite consuming large amounts of energy, HVAC systems are generally set to a specific operating temperature, and the HVAC systems operate to maintain an associated building at the specific operating temperature. Thus, the HVAC systems' operating costs are generally not considered when setting such HVAC systems. Further, it can be difficult for users to estimate their HVAC system's operating cost. In particular, it can be difficult for users to determine how their HVAC system's energy consumption is affected by factors such as the operating temperature specified by the user or an outside temperature.
Accordingly, methods for estimating or predicting energy usage of HVAC systems would be useful. In particular, methods for estimating or predicting energy usage of HVAC systems and assisting a user with evaluating a trade-off between the HVAC systems' operating temperature and the HVAC systems' operating cost would be useful.